Are you a patient or caregiver affected by MEN (1 or 2), Paraganglioma's, Phaeochromocytoma's or VHL?
The International Symposium on Phaeochromocytoma and Paraganglioma, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, 30 August – 2 September 2017, is one of the first scientific meetings to really involve patients throughout the program.
The meeting brings together leading global experts in the field and patients and their families have unprecedented access to the latest research, the opportunity to "ask the experts", and to see first hand why decisions are made throughout the treatment journey, based on evidence and experience.
Patient's are welcome to attend all the sessions and we are so grateful to have been able to secure a special registration rate of $250, necessary to cover the cost of catering over the 4 days. The Unicorn Foundation is honoured to be part of this fantastic meeting and to be joining forces with our international friends the Pheo Para Troopers and AMEND on Friday 1 September, to bring to patients a comprehensive workshop covering issues you want to hear about.
This is a fantastic opportunity and one that does not come around often in this specialised area, so register now and don't miss out.
Message from the Co chairs
From each of the previous ISP meetings – in Bethesda, Cambridge, Paris and Kyoto – great advances in knowledge and treatments have been identified for the benefit of patients with these tumours. We encourage all the extraordinary scientists, clinicians and patients who have helped shape this rapidly emerging research field to continue their dialogue and present their discoveries in Sydney.
Phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas (“pheo-para” tumours) represent unique windows into cancer biology due to their high heritability associated with genes in key oncogenic pathways, and energy metabolism. They can present dramatically with hypertension or catecholaminergic crisis (including heart failure and shock) and require high levels of clinical expertise for diagnosis, pre-operative medical treatments, surgery and post-operative follow-up for genetic counselling and management of recurrences. These tumours are also remarkable for their uptake and potential response to radiopharmaceuticals. This Symposium will therefore bring together all those with interests in Endocrinology and Endocrine Surgery, Head and Neck surgeons, Oncology, Hypertension, Nuclear Physicians, Geneticists and basic researchers in the fields of angiogenesis, hypoxia biology, oncology kinase signalling, metabolism and next-generation sequencing.
We expect the leading worldwide experts in the field to gather at ISP2017 to present their latest data, share clinical conundrums, showcase new therapeutic approaches, and develop strong international partnerships. Our Symposium promises to deliver new insights, better treatments, and hope for patients carrying the genetic susceptibility to pheo-para tumours.
The plenary sessions will deal with new advances in genetics (including next-generation sequencing), biochemical diagnosis and validation of new biomarkers, imaging (radiology and nuclear medicine), patient management, tumour biology, preclinical studies in animal models, therapeutic targets and new and future clinical trials.
